Zagaykevych, Alla
Born in 1966 in Khmelnytskyi, Ukrainian composer of contemporary classical music, performance artist, curator of electroacoustic music projects, musicologist. She graduated from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. In 1995–96 she attended the annual course for composition and musical informatics at IRCAM, where she studied with Tristan Murail and Brian Ferneyhough. She participated in the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt as well as composition masterclasses with Toshio Hosokawa, Johannes Schöllhorn, and Beat Furrer. Since 1997 she has lectured at the Composition Department of the National Music Academy of Ukraine where she founded the Electronic Music Studio (supported by the International Renaissance Foundation).
She composes symphonic, instrumental and vocal chamber music, electroacoustic compositions, multimedia installations and performances, operas, and film music. Her works have been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, symphony orchestras of Chernihiv and Rivne, ensembles such as CAT, Archi, Frescos, New Performance, Cluster, Ricoshet, Kyiv Camerata, Sed Kontra, Sepia, Court-Circuit, Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, ensemble recherche, Quartet New Generation, ensemble für neue musik, Anti-Social Music Ensemble, Kontra-Trio, at festivals including Lviv Contrasts, Kyiv Music Fest, International Youth Music Forum, Detali Zvuku, Kvitnu Fest, Gogolfest and Monofest in Kyiv, Two Days and Two Nights of New Music in Odessa, Gaida and Jauna Muzika (e-muzika) in Vilnius, SoNoR-Links in Baku, Dresdner Tage der Zeitgenossischen Musik, Takefu International Music Festival, American Festival of Microtonal Music, ISCM World Music Days in Stuttgart, Ultraschall, Codes, as well as at Abbaye de Royaumont and IRCAM. She has received commissions and scholarships notably from Cité des Arts, President of Ukraine, Visby International Centre for Composers, and International Renaissance Foundation. She received the Oleksandr Dovzhenko State Prize (2004) for her music to the film Mamai directed by Oles Sanin. She worked with Sanin on the film Guide (2014), receiving the Mykola Lysenko Prize (2015). In 2017 she won the Zloty Dziga prize of the Ukrainian Film Academy for Best Composer for the film The Living Fire (2016, dir. Ostap Kostyuk). She also received the Levek Revutski Prize for her chamber opera Numbers and Wind (2001).
She is the artistic director of international projects Electroacoustics (since 2003) and EM-VISIA (since 2005). In 2017, she curated the music programme of the Book Arsenal festival in Kyiv, and in 2018–20, the Envision Sound programme of the British Council and Dovzhenko Centre. In 2019 she was the mentor of an international masterclass of acousmatic and electroacoustic music, Sound Around Me in Vienna (supported by the Ukrainian Institute). She is the author of musicological articles in scholarly periodicals such as Ukraïns’ke Muzykoznavstvo, Muzika,Kritika, Organised Sound, and MusikTexte. Since 2010 she has chaired the Ukrainian Electroacoustic Music Society.
Selected works: Et dans un long tournoiement j’entrerai dedans l’étang céleste for bassoon, double bass, clarinet / bass clarinet and electronics to poems by Oleh Lysheha (1996), Ausgesetzt auf den Bergen des Herzens... for soprano and orchestra to poems by Rainer Maria Rilke (1996), Numbers and Wind (Drawings by Memory), chamber opera to texts by Mykola Vorobyov (1992–97), Mar-X-Nevidomist for soprano and piano (1997), Chemins des Ombres for trombone, percussion and double bass (1998), Choven for soprano, mezzo-soprano and baritone to words by Mykola Vorobyov (1999), Cosí fan tutte, electronic music for an audiovisual installation (2000, with Oxana Plysiuk), Gravitation for two cellos (2001), Heroneya for violin, cello, bassoon, piano and electronics (2002), To Escape... To Breathe... To Keep Silence... for violin, voice, piano, recordings and live electronics (2002), Pagode for recorders and electronics (2003), Motus for recording and computer (2003), Seasons in the Square, electronic music for an audiovisual installation (2004), Air Mechanics for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and cello (2005), Transparency for violin and electronics (2006), Luceo for piano (2007), Tercet for clarinet, violin and cello (2007), Venezia – Vision for cello and electronics (2008), Sud/Est, electroacoustic performance for five musicians, electronics and video (2009, with Vadim Jovich), While Falling Asleep: To Wake Up... While Flying Up: To Submerge..., electroacoustic installation (2009), Musique naïve for accordion, guitar, theremin and electronics (2011), Mithe IV: KS (dedicated to Karol Szymanowski) for violin and electronics (2011), Contre S (dédié à Guy Debord) for contrabass flute, contrabass saxophone and tuba (2011), Raven, music for a performance by Yara Arts Group (2011), Sinfonia Urbana for symphony orchestra (2012), Dream Bridge, music for a performance by Yara Arts Group (2012), Nord / Ouest, electroacoustic music (2012), Léandre for flute, tenor saxophone, trombone, accordion, violin, cello and electronics (2012), Voice/ Way for ensemble and electronics (2013), Requiem for orchestra, performer, voice and electronics to poems by Dmytro Lazutkin (2014),L’Itinéraire for piano and orchestra (2015), Friend Li Po (Dedicated to Oleh Lysheha) for guzheng and electronics (2015), Punctum Reditum for clarinet, violin, accordion and electronics to poems by Bertolt Brecht and Serhiy Zhadan (2016), Misto for soprano and electronics to texts by Mykhaylo Semenko (2017), Vyshyvany. King of Ukraine, opera do a libretto by Serhiy Zhadan (2019), Todes Fuge for flute and piano After Paul Celan (2020), Signs of Presence for voice and piano to a text by Iya Kywa (2021), Prostory Svitla for large symphony orchestra and electronics (2021); film and stage music.